After paramedics suspected a case of pneumonia, Latimer was taken to the Strait Richmond Hospital on March 29, where he spent two days on an ER stretcher, while his wife Linda was forced to sleep on a couch in another room.

Linda told the Cape Breton Post last week that while her husband’s care was exceptional, she believes government is failing to provide comfort and dignity to end-of-life patients in Richmond County.

She has asked the province to designate around 20 protected beds for palliative care in the Strait region, with accommodations for at least one family member of each patient.

Cape-Breton Richmond MLA Alana Paon told members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly that Danny Latimer died Thursday morning.

“The last year at least seven palliative patients and their families were forced the (indignity), of spending their last days with their loved ones in the busy ER at the Strait Richmond Hospital,” Paon told the legislature.

Paon used in her time in question period to ask Minister of Health, Randy Delorey, whether it is acceptable to have end-of-life patients spending the last days of their lives in a busy emergency room.

She said letters sent to government by the Strait Richmond Palliative Care Society have gone unanswered for two years. The correspondence included a program proposal for palliative care sent back in October 2015.

Delorey denied a claim by Paon that the Liberal government has done nothing, pointing to a framework now exists for communities looking to establish hospice care supports.